Cosmos of the Harvesters
by EsperSY
Summary: When you toss in items in the Harvest Goddess Lake, the Harvest Goddess herself appears, ONLY if it's a farmer who offers her the gift. Ever questioned what happens if you throw in a farmer in the magical lake? It became a portal, that's what. MFoMT
1. Chapter 1

_(A/N: First contest entry for the Writing Festival at a discussion forum I stumbled upon by chance. The theme that chance decided to give me is apparently __**Alternate Universe**__. Hmm...I might just name my second voice/writing muse 'Chance'...)_

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**CHAPTER 1**

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Her blonde locks bounced wildly as she ran across her farm towards the small bridge in between her property and the forest. A few more jogs, and she will come upon a flight of stairs towards where she first met the Harvest Goddess. Though, her destination for the moment is not the breathtaking miracle of the waterfall, nor the temptingly reposeful hot spring, but rather the old mining cave. The old _uninteresting _mining cave.

"Augh, I really should get myself a rubber band!" Claire huffed while slipping her one able hand between her dreadfully messy tresses and the nape of her neck, before pulling back her long hair from swabbing her sweaty neck. Her other hand, however, is busy holding up a large newly upgraded hoe over her frail shoulder. Actually, it's the very existence of that hoe that made her running unsteadily up the hill.

Since arriving in Mineral Town, Claire is rather well-known for her habit of overworking herself. She was a local patient in the clinic, since she kept passing out on her field more than enough times. Everyone dubbed her a workaholic, as the blonde never really stop to take a breather even once, except to sleep. Heck, she doesn't even allow herself to sit down for a decent meal, as she just ate _while_ working.

The townsfolk did tried to slow her down, but Claire just kept on striding her way to her next task. The farmer always complained of so much work she has to do but she was provided with such a short amount of time. The black lines forming under her eyes are mainly because of her habit to sleep late and wake up extremely early...just to try and finish her job.

"Have to upgrade hoe, got to find gold ore...today, quickly, don't waste time," she sort of chanted in between breaths as she rushed her way at the entrance of the mining cave, when out of a sudden, bumped into this rock hard...thing. Claire only managed to keep standing on her feet by supporting herself at the side of the wall, though she did dropped her hoe. She only realized what she slammed herself onto was actually a person by that grunt of pain emitted from inside the cave.

"Oh...it's you. The Uma guy..."

"The hell is 'Uma guy'? The name's Gray!" The man seemed already pissed off by the tone of his reply, and Claire didn't need more clues to figure that one out. The shuffling noise from inside the darkness of the cave indicated that he's probably standing and dusting off his clothes. True, Claire never really cared to meet all the townsfolk, or even greet them on normal terms, so their names were all but vague to her.

"Yeah, whatever, just get out of my way. I don't have time," her tone quite fits as the town's local snob anytime of the day. Claire was crouching to try and pick up her hoe, with much difficulty by her draining strength and energy from the sleepless nights watering every seed she planted. It's only to be expected.

"Like crap I care..." Claire could faintly hear the man's mumbling as he stepped out of the cave with quite a number of ores occupying his arms. Though apparently, he's been in that cave for too long that the sunlight blinded him for a while.

Then the accident happened.

One of his ores dropped, and Gray happened to trip on it. The blond farmer, who was just about to stand up to her full height with the weight of the hoe over one of her shoulders, who did not even achieve her balance yet, can do nothing but yell by the sudden rain of ores. That yell quickly altered into a high-pitched scream when the heavy metal blade of her hoe tilted downwards by the blonde's unstable footing, this automatically made Claire took a few backward steps in an attempt to regain her balance...until she realized there's no more ground to step on.

Her hoe fell first into the Harvest Goddess Lake with a loud frightening splash. Just by the sound of it, one could tell it's dreadfully deep. Claire's arms are flailing, desperately trying to balance herself back to the front. Though, that's a rather difficult attempt when both her heels are not even touching the ground. Her last view before she slipped off is Gray on all fours with his eyes wide, staring straight at her.

The moment Claire touched the water, she squinted her eyes closed by instinct. As she fell deeper and deeper into the lake, she felt a strange current flow around her, almost as if circling her, like she's trapped inside a cyclone of water. Bubbles rotated all around her, Claire even felt the temperature of the water heightens for a short while before turning completely cold again.

"Aghh!" The moment she reached the surface and bobbed her head up, the blond farmer took in a quick breath and gasps of air. Her hair practically covers over her whole face, so Claire yet again muttered expletives of her hair while wishing she owns a rubber band.

Quickly forgetting the strange occurrence of the water earlier, her first reaction is to yell towards Gray up there, but when she looked up, she sees a...flower? The plant just slowly flows down in the air and landed precisely on her wet blond hair. Her mouth was still hanging open by that intended yell and it was only closed when a figure stepped nearer to the ledge of the lake she's in.

'_Wait...that's not—'_

A man around his late teens, sporting a blue cap positioned backwards, a few bangs of brown hair sticking out of his head accessory and large curious eyes, appeared in her view.

'_That's definitely not the Uma guy...'_

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_(A/N: Might probably be a three-shot than my intended one-shot. Hmn. Well, Chance, all up to you. Reviews are very much appreciated, thank you for reading! ...By the way, is this category supposed to fall in the Crossover section?)_


	2. Chapter 2

_(A/N: Wow, okay, this is when I'm supposed to be in a state of panic. How can I squeeze one entire plot into this chapter? Chance shall do the magic, I'll do the random whimsical idea bursts. Please bear with us. By the way, I decided not to go with the name Jack here, since there're too many Jacks going around, so I'll stick with something __stupid__ totally unoriginal. Reason I chose Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland is because...I never played any other versions due to my lack of consoles? *is shot*)_

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**Chapter 2**

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"Harvest Goddess? ...You dyed your hair blonde?"

Upon hearing that seemingly innocent-sounding inquiry, Claire swiftly picked up the forgotten irritable petulant feeling she had earlier reserved for Gray to take it upon this man instead, "Do I look like a freaking Goddess to you? Pull me up! I don't have time to drown!"

She doesn't even care who this man is, or whether she recognized him or not, it's not even her problem. The logic that another guy was up there on the hill other than Gray is possible, so she doesn't think more of it. That's what she mused in her thoughts. It never occurred to her that Gray's not around, or that she's not in the same lake she fell into at the moment, nor is she even in Mineral Town.

There is a particular reason only farmers are able to see and communicate with the Harvest Goddess herself, and the Harvest Sprites too. Reasons that are too absolute to be acknowledged by young harvesters such as this pair, and often overlooked as something for granted, or for Claire's case, valueless and not worth her attention.

It took a few minutes for the young man to help the blonde out of the water, but he didn't seem to be all that tired nor annoyed by how drenched his clothes are, and how muddy his boots began to colour. Unlike Claire. Claire is practically cussing her tongue out of everything; her overalls, her boots, her hair and even the lake.

"Wow, you sounded a lot like a city folk," the brunette muttered barely audibly, and hinting the smallest speck of insult. Though for Claire, even the tiniest show of contempt, especially of her, will not be disregarded at the least. Still fuelled by that earlier wrath, Claire lifts up one dripping hand and attempted to slap his sorry face, but that's when fate decided to pay its toll on her, for she slipped on thin air.

"You even fall like a city folk," said the young man, grinning down at her, but this time, without the faintest hint of vilification. Probably that hand scratching the back of his head that made him seem rather straightforward and bluntly honest instead of purposely insulting the blonde. "Come on, I'll show you around."

The man with the blue cap had grabbed Claire by the wrist and easily pulled her up, much to her surprise. _'How can he still be smiling with these uncomfortable wet clothes?' _That seems to be the only thing echoing in her mind, that it came to her slightly late than usual to process what the boy had said to her. "Wait, show me around?"

At that, she pulled her hand out of his grip, "Don't treat me like a tourist, I live here! I've been living in Mineral Town for—" Her tongue was then proven to be useless when she finally cleared her eyes to see, that this is indeed not the hill she used to climb. The mining cave is no where to be seen, so is the hot spring. All that's visible in her peripheral range of view is the lake she just climbed out of, a small stream of river to her left, a poorly-built excuse-of-a-bridge that connected the lands that was split by that river, and a fairly thick forest covering the area near her right. This is definitely not Mineral Town.

"Huh?"

"Yep, seems you hit your head pretty hard down there. We have no towns called Mineral, just to clarify your head," the young man explained, starting to walk off further from the confused female farmer. As he does so, Claire could finally see the large imprint on that backwards cap of his, just like Gray's. But instead of UMA...

"TOY? Wow, hat designers are getting stupider and stupider."

The guy spun around, not the least bit irritated like Claire suspected to see, and with a bright grin, shrugged his shoulders light-heartedly, "That's what they called me here actually; Toy."

Claire blinked her eyes, not once, but twice, to make sure she heard it right. _'Well that's a downright ridiculous name.' _With a smug grin, Claire only rests her hands on her hips to try a second shot in annoying this man, since that smile of him is getting rather bothersome, "Your name is Toy? You're kidding me. Are your parents-"

"My name is Tony, okay? Originally, it's Tony. But Tony is also my granddad's name...my deceased granddad's name. He's pretty popular in this village, so the people here called me Toy instead. It won't cause confusion that way, don't you think?"

Claire's mouth was still hanging open by her unfinished attack, but it seems like this Toy guy was much faster than her, and actually deflected her insult right off with that curve of his smile. "Honestly, I got the hat earlier before I even came to this village. They forgot to put the letter N there, heh."

Laughing as he strutted his way off, all dripping wet like that, Toy is not the least bit bothered by it. This struck as odd to Claire, but she decided not to say anything more against it, or she would look more like a 'city folk' as he claimed she is. So, the blonde farmer tried to doddered her way, following the man with an unsteady gait, soggy and all. She had much difficulty containing her hair in place, since they kept falling over her eyes every so often, even with being wet.

Before Claire could utter out colourful strings of words of her unmanageable hair, she was caught in a trance by a whistling noise...from Toy. The sound of hooves could be heard approaching, and she swore she heard a neigh too. Then, from nowhere, a beautiful cream-furred horse advanced right towards Toy. The blonde cannot sustain a scream at how huge a horse is close-ranged, and she won't hide that she's a bit frightened.

"What, you've never seen a horse up-close before?" was Toy's humorous remark, followed by that hearty laugh of his yet again. Unconsciously, Claire had grabbed hold of the young man's shoulder to hide behind him, and at this, Toy ceased his laughter. "You look like a city folk, you act like a city folk, now I'm beginning to believe that you _are_ a city folk."

"I am certainly not a city folk!" Claire quickly snapped, somehow seeing that label as an insult to her, "I'm a farmer in Mineral Town! I grow vegetables and fruits, and I own chickens and a cow and a puppy!"

Toy just stared tediously at this woman's claim, his smile was still there hanging slightly on his lips, but his caramel brown eyes clearly indicating he's not the slightest bit impressed, "But you don't have a horse?"

"W-well..." Claire backed down. When Barley came over her farm, asking her to take care of a foal, the blonde farmer harshly rejects the old man's plea of help, arrogating that she doesn't have time to take care of 'baby animals' that won't reward her with anything. At the recollection, Claire bit her lower lip for a while to try and form excuses in her head before stating it out as confidently as possible, "What's the use of small horses anyway? The old farmer didn't give me a big enough horse, so I refuse to take care of that baby horse!"

Toy's smile slightly falters at this confession, but he still held that curve of his lips that can still be considered a smile, though a small one at that. "Perhaps he wants you to develop a good enough relationship with the horse from young. That way, it will learn to trust you as it grows."

Claire shuts her mouth tight, deeply embarrassed and ashamed. She lowered down her head to avoid eye contact with Toy, though her tongue still mumbled out, "Animals doesn't learn or trust. They don't have minds like people..."

Toy paused his steps, his back against Claire, and his left hand stroking the horse's back gently. After a moment, the young man half turns his upper body to the back to say only one statement to the blonde, "Young horses are called as foals."

Claire's eyebrows creased in surprise and confusion. She expected an insult, but that is neither an insult nor a compliment. That was simply a neutral assertion. As she thought further, Toy was already on his way down the hill, gently leading his horse down with an arm resting at the mane of it. His action made her more perplexed, _'What's the use of horses if you don't ride on it?'_

Claire hurried her steps, determined to ask him of that to at least satisfy her curiosity, "Um...hey, why don't you ride on it?"

That question somehow brings that welcoming aura back on Toy's nature, as he fully turned towards Claire and smiled, "I could, but then I'd leave you walking alone. That won't be good gesture to a woman."

"If that's the case, why don't you let me ride it too?" Shameless, that's what her question sounded like after she rebounded it back in her mind.

"And what made you so confident Shift would let you ride him?"

"What? What do you mean, it's just a horse!" Claire exclaimed, now slightly furious, and attempted to climb the horse from behind. Suddenly, the stallion neighed extremely loudly and alarmingly. Within seconds, the horse shoots up to the front swiftly, leaving Claire loosing her balance by both the missing horse and the fear of what just happened.

She fell, of course, and Toy calmly pulled her back up on her feet with an apologetic smile plastered on his slightly tanned face, "I'm so sorry, Shift is kind of unfriendly to strangers. It took me a lot of time for him to allow me to mount on him."

"Allow...?" Claire repeated, as if it's an alien word she had never heard of before.

"Yeah, allow. Horses rely heavily on trust for someone to ride on them, they don't just let anyone. They have feelings too, you know?" Toy had said it like it's the most common knowledge on the planet, and this made Claire all that more humiliated. So, she silently follows the brunette down the hill, half of herself wondering why he didn't run off to catch his frightened horse.

As they neared the base of the hill, now she could see why. Someone by the large lake had stopped the horse, and is currently brushing a hand through its mane. At the sight of Toy, the person suddenly lashed out loud, "Toy, don't you know any better to not frighten your horse at this state? You've got a horse race to enter, you idiot!"

A blonde. A blonde, ponytailed young girl in her teens is lovingly caressing the horse that just went berserk a few moments ago. Toy nervously approached the girl while wearing a guilty smile on his face, before he got punched right in the arm. "Ow!"

"And why are you wet? Don't goof around when the race is nearing! Do you want to save—Oh? Who's she?" The girl, whose name is Gwen, only stopped her violent hits when she noticed the presence of another woman, for which she pulled back her fist, much to Toy's relief.

"Hey, I've never seen you around here. Are you new?" Gwen completely ignores Toy right after that to deal with Claire, offering a smile and a nod of acknowledgement, "I'm Gwen. You are?"

Seeing this as her first time being asked her name since she arrived at this place, Claire nodded as a response before saying out her name, "My name is Claire. I'm from Mineral Town."

It strikes as weird to the blonde farmer, as she did not expect herself to even say out where she came from, or even using that slightly lofty tone. All this while when she's living there, it never occurred to her that she would consider that town to be proud about. Talk about Mineral Town, it can't be that far off from this place, thought Claire, since she assumed the river carried her downstream to this village.

"Mineral Town?" Gwen repeated in a questioning manner, "Where exactly—" but her question never finished when a head suddenly popped from nowhere on her shoulder, proclaiming something close to, "There's a new girl in the village?"

That head then cried out in pain at the automatic elbow-hit by Gwen, who then left after giving another brutal punch to Toy with a warning, "You BETTER win the race". Both men groaned in pain for a while, recoiling a bit, and then regaining their composure with a smack on each other's shoulders.

"Hi, I'm Joe." The guy that got elbowed waved weakly, still moaning a bit. He gave Claire a once over, before turning his attention to Toy, "Did you fished her out of the lake or something?"

"Kind of. Yeah," came the easygoing reply, "Threw a flower in the Harvest Goddess lake, and she came out."

"Whoa, seriously?"

"Don't know if they're giving out more girls in one day, though."

Claire clenched her jaw and instinctively, probably inspired by Gwen earlier, delivered a quick blow at Toy by the arm, "Don't treat me like some object!"

"I was joking!" With that utterance of pain, the young blue-capped man rubbed his aching arm, figured that women would turn out to be this violent after one minute watching Gwen with her fists. "Ow... Come on, let's just dry up first at Wallace's. Katie might even have something you could wear."

The next half an hour follows with another round of introduction, this time to an old man and his granddaughter. Claire has to admit, Wallace was a pleasant old guy, and he somehow gave that air of collectedness to the atmosphere. Katie is a nice girl. She tries to act mature a lot and like Gwen, rather bold for her young age. She had offered Claire her pair of hand-knitted shirt and skirt, which at first Claire refuses, but anything is better than wearing her wet overalls.

"So Claire, what do you do for a living?" Katie had asked the blonde while they're both alone in her room, with Claire near the closet, trying on clothes that actually fit without her tripping herself.

"Oh, I'm a farmer actually."

"Really? Wow, Toy's a farmer too!"

Claire paused whatever she was doing to turn and face Katie, "I thought he works in a horse ranch or something."

The pink-clad girl smiled sweetly, more than happy to talk about a certain blue-capped man to another woman, "Oh no, he inherited his grandfather's farm nearby. He's a great farmer; all the eggs and milk his livestock produces are great. Grandpa buys those from Toy a lot, since it's almost as fresh as Tony's."

Claire had turned from confronting Katie. She knows her own face had contorted into a sullen manner, as if she just swallowed something extremely sour. Perhaps its jealousy, or the fact that Toy seems so energetic even with all the things he's supposed to take care of, and he's even out hanging out with the villagers and rescuing girls drowning in lakes. _'Does he have excellent time-dividing skill?'_

"What about planting things?"

"Oh, yes! Fruits, vegetables, you name it. Last time I stopped by at his farm, he gave me a breadfruit straight from his field. He's really good-hearted..."

Claire's eyes rolled tiresomely. Now she knows why Katie speaks so highly of him, the brunette probably likes Toy. At this, the blonde farmer dismisses everything else Katie had said, and focused all her attention on finding a good dry apparel to wear. All the amazing things about the other farmer Katie had said about skidded out her thoughts and attention.

"Wow, nice shorts!" Toy stifled a laugh when the girls had come down, but mainly eyeing Claire's brightly-toned shorts. The shirt she picked is a simple white garment, very fitting actually, if the blonde decided to throw in a smile. Smile she did, a tight grin with a tighter fist to boot, and of course delivering that said knuckles into Toy's abdomen.

"I think it looks nice on her," said Katie, with all the benevolence in the world. Somehow, it made Claire sick seeing her smiling like that. _'Fake... Liars...' _Her dark mind echoed, but her eyes didn't even shutter at how it truly affected her. Toy and Katie shared a laugh, to which Claire frowned and rolled her eyes at how typical these villagers are. Seeming so perfect and happy...it doesn't even seem realistic.

Unbeknownst to her, Wallace noticed her change of aura.

Bright lights peered into the building as Toy opened the double doors, taking in a long fresh inhale, then heaved out in relief in the blinding luminosity. "Ahhh, I love the fresh air of the homeland," he had said. This didn't just made Claire squinting her eyes at the fulgent sunlight, but a scowl too.

'_You liar... I know you weren't born here...'_

The lour on her face is very well hidden with how blank her bright blue eyes are, concealing the iniquity of her thoughts. Even so, she followed him. As disgusted as she is to the villagers so far, she wanted to see what else is in store for her in this seemingly quaint little settlement. A shrill whistle disturbed Claire's grim views, and it only got more and more darker with the approach of Toy's horse gaily pranced by her towards its owner.

"C'mon!" The male farmer had urged her, happily calling her to move faster while he led his horse to walk alongside him. Claire's eyes cornered, darkly muttering of how many black secrets are held within this perfectly pleasant village...just like when she first came in Mineral Town. It annoys her of how similar the atmosphere of this place is to the town, the darkness hidden amongst the laughter, the ill intentions enshrouded by smiles, the silence of their hearts veiled by the perfections they revealed.

Her thoughts at the moment severely contrasted of how cheerful Toy is, babbling nonsense about some magical land behind Clove Villa and a little kid that kept finding treasure maps. Claire only sighed, the frown on her lips are way smaller than how deep the frown in her heart is. It annoys her.

"Oh, Woody!" The sudden heightened voice of Toy all but surprised her. When she glanced up, another old man paced towards both the farmers with that beard of his hiding a small smile. The old man didn't look as gentle as Wallace, and Claire could feel there's certain strength within him, of how firm his boots are to the ground...kind of like Gwen earlier.

Toy and Woody exchanged handshakes, like the men they are. "Is she a relative of yours?" I could hear the grating voice of the old man as I approached them with a polite smile to him. At this, Toy quickly raised his hands in defence of how ridiculous that sounded.

"What? No, no! Do we even look similar?" He had even gone off the line with placing his face right beside Claire's, his expression changed with a sulk as he tried to imitate the blonde's brooding. The woman of the trio quickly pushed him away with a grunt, beyond annoyed to this man that belittles her.

Immediately, the smile on Woody's face falters. It wasn't so drastic that the two farmers would notice it, but the old man now has his doubts about the new girl in the village.

"She's a strange one," he had said to Wallace after the farmers had left, seeking refuge inside the cafe to express his worries. Wallace only frowned at the other side of the counter, quietly wiping a glass with a cloth.

"Perhaps Toy could help her, like he did to everybody else here," Wallace chuckled, lifting that morbid air from poisoning the atmosphere since Claire came along. Woody only hummed in agreement, gulping down his drink, "That he did."

"This!" Toy extended his arms wide, unrealistically optimistic, as Claire had stepped inside his property, "Is my grandfather's wonderful farm." Shift, the horse, had long gone to fly the coop the moment it noticed they have arrived in its home, jumping over the fence that kept in a few cows inside the grassy fields.

Even if she had dismissed Katie's praises of Toy's farm, she was chained to the ground by awe of how completely in order he had shaped this farm...for someone like Toy. The colourful healthy vegetations on his planting fields, the chickens clucking happily just outside the chicken coop, a number of cows inside the fence, jubilantly mooing as they ate the grass...it all seems so abnormally perfect.

"It looks nice, huh? Takes the help of a lot of people to get this farm going," Toy admitted, waking the darker side of Claire in an instant.

"Ah-hah! So you ARE a cheater."

The young man was so stunned at how random that sounded from her, yet she looks like she means it, whatever she's trying to pull. "...Excuse me?"

"This isn't your homeland, you liar," Claire began her assault full-throttle, "You didn't even work your farm from scratch, it's not fair that you make others to do all the work for you. Compared to me, who starts a farm from the beginning, without relying on others." With a victorious smirk, she crossed her arms over her chest, seeming to be deeply satisfied she had managed to successfully dig the dark secret behind his jolly-happy facade.

Claire's simper grows even wider at Toy's ceasing grin.

"Sure, I wasn't born here, this isn't my homeland," Toy began, and for the first time, without wearing that silly goofy smile on his face. In fact, his expression indicated he's extremely serious with that much focus in his eyes, "But my granddad... Grandad Tony he loves this place. He loves this place so much, he had helped to protect it as much as he possibly can. He used to tell amazing stories of his life here when he visited me, about the villagers, about the settlement, about his destiny as a harvester..."

Toy gazed attentively towards Claire, his chocolate eyes very sharp and focused towards her own, and he's determined to explain what this homeland means to him. "Don't you get it why only we can see the Harvest Sprites? Why the Harvest Goddess chose to directly contact only us? Granddad Tony said, because we're born to help nature, Claire. That's what harvesters do!"

Claire unconsciously stepped back by the sudden explosion in his voice, deeply slashed by his words. She didn't fully understand what he meant by helping nature, all farmers do are tending animals and grow crops. The blonde paused, directing her thoughts further on that content. Animals can provide lots of things to a community of people, food is primarily the reason, and so is company and granting the ecosystem to flow. Vegetations are not only good for the human health, they also furnished nature itself. In the end, who is to call in order to keep the nature balanced? _'Farmers...'_

Toy's smile suddenly grows back, but he quickly turned his back towards Claire, his head tilted up towards the serene blue sky. "Granddad Tony loves this place. This is his homeland. ...That's why I'm helping, to save this homeland." He smiled up to the heavens, the winds suddenly blew calmly towards them both and the leaves all but danced around the area, almost as if responding to Toy's sacred will.

For the first time in her life, Claire has begun to see what it means. What Toy meant. Just minutes ago, all she could see in his farm are perfect rows of annoyance starting from his animals to his plantations, but now as she stared at Toy, she noticed by now of how worn down his gloves are, his trousers patched up, the dirt spots all around his clothes, and that apparent line of sweat running down his face.

Toy worked hard on keeping tabs of his farm, just like Claire. The only difference is Toy never complained. He enjoyed working as a farmer, he did it not for money, but to help. And he's happy about it, that is what matters. Claire placed a hand over her lips, only now realizing the mistake she did. Her farm is just as good as Toy's, it's only that, she's blinded by her selfishness to see how beautiful it is.

"And excuse you, I start this farm from scratch too, granddad Tony had made sure to make this farm as rundown as possible before he went off, you know? I'd also like to clarify I didn't MAKE the villages help me, they WANT to," Toy shrugged his shoulders, slightly annoyed actually by Claire's earlier assault, and without even investigating her facts right.

This made Claire's face slightly coloured as she dropped her head low. Toy chuckled, before giving a pat on her shoulders, encouraging her in a way. Both of them shared a smile for a while, now with Claire coming into terms with him, Toy takes the opportunity to greet a fellow farmer; the harvester way.

"So! Not that I don't believe you're a farmer, but I'd like to see you in action! Now come on, I'll introduce you to Tellus! The goddess of earth! The protector of marriage and fertility! ...Also known as my newborn calf."

Claire gave a friendly blow to the young man, bursting up into a fit of laughter for the first time after a long while, "A calf, that's a baby cow, right?"

"Exactly!"

So the two farmers traded knowledge and information about farming, tending the crops, mining, fishing, taking care of stray puppies and even the rumour of a secret alternate dimension portal Toy found out in one of his granddad's journals. They jumped from topic to topic, talking all day long till the skies coloured into a deep orange tinge and the sun slowly begins to fall below the horizon.

That's when Claire suggested for them to head back to Wallace's and see if her overalls are dried up yet.

The cafe had already switched status into a bar the moment Toy and Claire came in, into which the male farmer quickly ordered a round of whatever's on the house. Preferring to keep her consciousness in a village she barely knew of, Claire just went straight to Katie's room upstairs to retrieve back her now dried overalls and changed her attire while deeply thanking the young lady for the hospitality she provided.

"A friend of Toy is a friend of mine! I'm glad to be of help!" Katie had said.

This made Claire wondered about what Toy had said of the villagers wanting to help him. He certainly has that gift that could attract people around him, but something tells her that's not exactly it. So then, the blonde decided to ask Katie on what's his secret.

"That's easy. Because instead of just greeting, Toy asked everybody on how they're doing."

"...What does that mean?"

"Hahah! It means he cares about everyone, and everything. He's the most honest and caring man I have ever met."

It hits Claire like a brick on the face. She knows her attitude is the exact opposite of that, so now she's starting to get worried if she'll ever receive any help at all from her own townsfolk. Shaking her head, the blonde reminded herself that it doesn't matter, as long as she stayed true to what's important; to honestly enjoy what she's doing.

"Hey Claire! You want to see the harvest moon? It's a full moon tonight!" Both of the girls could hear Toy's hollering from downstairs, to which Claire replies, "I'll be down in a minute!"

"That is so like Toy..." Katie giggled, "He gets so excited to tell people about everything there is to know about this village."

'_That is exactly what his grandfather had done to him. It's Tony senior's fault,'_ I wanted to speak my thoughts out, but I'd rather kept quiet seeing how happy Katie is indulging into one of her girlish fantasies. It's kind of easy to see according to how her eyes drifted off from facing Claire.

"...Toy. You're drunk," the blonde farmer hissed. She didn't even take much effort to guess that, it's pretty apparent by that shade of pink clearly visible on his face. Though, Toy could amazingly still stand, securely too.

The blue-capped man merely shook it off with a wave, dismissing what she said and strutted out of the bar, expecting Claire to tail behind him. "C'mon, it's not everyday that it's the September equinox! The harvest moon is waiting for us!" Then he walked out of the door with the swagger of a cripple, as expected from too much alcohol.

"The boy can handle his ale, don't worry, he's not lost entirely," Woody reassured, surprising Claire since he's so hidden at the corner of the bar there. The young farmer stared at the woodcutter for a while, and smiled to him, which he responded with his own. At that, the blonde bid her goodbye to catch up onto the other farmer.

Woody swings his head, turning to Wallace, at the same time the other does the same. Both the old men smiled, nodded in acknowledgement and enjoy each other's laughter. What they foresee had come true. If only Tony senior was here, he'd be sitting on the table across Woody, joining his fellow friends' mirth.

"So what do you think of my grandparents' homeland so far?" Toy started, spinning around to walk backwards, but mainly to show off that sheepish grin of his under the darkness of the sky. It emitted a sort of charm from within him, Claire noticed. So she can't help but to smile also.

"It's very nice, Toy. The people here taught me lots of things... In fact, I'm grateful the stream carried me down here." Her hands are locked together behind her, smiling slightly at the passing fishing lake as they hiked up the hill to the Harvest Goddess Lake. It's pretty much too dark for Claire to see anything when they went up further, but Toy seems like he can, or he knows exactly where he is since he's been climbing the same hill every day.

A beautiful silver lining of light pierces through the available spaces in between the leaves, lighting up the rest of their way up once they're nearing their destination. "I present to you~!" Upon reaching the top of the hill, Toy had burst the silent atmosphere, greatly surprising the blonde farmer. He had spun around again, facing her, before bending down his upper body in a highly gentlemen-like manner...which doesn't fit the backwards cap at all.

When he straighten himself up after his bow, Toy spread his arms wide, almost as if welcoming her, then yelled in the loudest yet dignified fashion he could manage, "The harvest moon!" At they stood right beside the Harvest Goddess Lake, the harvesters lifted their glance to the skies almost in synchrony.

Gleaming brilliantly accompanied by the starless night, its beams illuminates whatever it had touched beautifully. Claire's skin glistened by the shaft of light, and Toy smiled up the moon, his grin glinted silver. The moon is so large, if she stretched out her arm towards it, it would almost seem like she could grab hold of it, thought Claire.

"First time seeing it?" Toy whispered.

"Yeah..." Claire replied distractedly, her blue eyes shone with the light.

"Me too."

The winds suddenly drifted by them, carrying the leaves as it goes. The current grows strong by the moment that both of their long hair had begun to dance along with the leaves. Claire's especially. Toy started laughing for no apparent reason, the bangs sticking out of his cap looks almost like a mantis's forelimbs with the wind playing around. "Claire! My granddad said hi to you!"

"Yeah? Ah, hello! And, tell Tony senior to deliver his message other than through the winds, will you please?" As the strands of her bangs strayed off from their normal position, blocking her view of the moon, Claire is starting to get irritated.

Annoyed, she pulled down her blonde hair forcefully, frowning as she did. Toy chuckled seeing this, then he did the unthinkable. The male farmer literally brings his long brown ponytail that was hidden behind him by pulling it over his shoulder, and pulled the rubber band that held his hair in place. The rubber was then presented to Claire with an honest smile.

"At least I got the cap to live through my granddad's random summoning," he had said.

The blonde stared at him in awe, and not long after that, that rubber band was serving its use to Claire. "Thank you, Tony."

"What! I'm the one who showed you around and stuff, and you thanked my granddad? This is beyond unfair!"

"No, idiot, I'm thanking you. That's your name too, right?"

When the gentle wind suddenly transformed into a strong gale did Claire rephrase her sentence, "Okay, okay! Both of you! Thank you, both of you!"

But the strong air current did not pause even the slightest. It's getting so strong, not only that the farmers' hair danced all over the place, but it could literally blow them off their feet. Claire began to skid, while Toy was blown off his feet and fell on his rear with a yelp, "Ow! Okay, that is NOT my granddad!"

"TOY!" Claire only but yelled, pulling her arms up to protect herself, but that was proven to be a useless attempt when her feet aren't making contact with the ground anymore. The blonde farmer screamed as she was belted off in the air, and since she stood very near to the Harvest Goddess Lake, Claire fell inside the freezing water.

She's not sure if it's the wind buzzing in her ear or her mind's playing tricks in her ears, but as Claire fell, she swore she could hear Toy shouting. What's strange is it's not a shout of concern or a cry of her name, but rather something close to, "Please visit us again soon!"

SPLASH!

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_(A/N: I am so sorry it takes such a long time, I have no excuses, except that finals are getting near, so I kept facing the books more...sorry. And, did you noticed, in the middle of this chapter, Claire got a little...darker? XD I apologize, that was inspired from a random morbid fic I read that time. Lol! But hey, as *painfully* simple my writings seems to be for this fic, I hope I managed to deliver several symbolic hints here. Next chappie will be up pretty quickly. Heh, review if I deserve it, like always~)_


	3. Chapter 3

_(A/N: I'm writing this...in a car. Yes, I just realized the deadline of the contest is nearing. C'mon, Chance, whip up the ending quick!)_

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**Chapter 3**

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Cold water filled her mouth, nose and ears. The impact was so great, it felt like Claire just hit herself against a solid concrete. She saw bubbles around her and the water abnormally spun her around with the current. It surprised her when she felt the water suddenly grows warmer for a short moment, and out of no where, she can faintly hear another voice.

Not Toy's though, she noted, he has this certain tone that sounds a lot more familiar to her.

"Claire! It's Claire, there she is! Pull her, pull her up!"

Before she knew it, something grabbed hold of her abdomen and casted her up, separating her from the water. She had her eyes closed and was busy hacking her lungs out, but she could pick up several different voices around her.

"Give her some air! Step back!"

"Goddess, is she alright? Does she need someone to pat her back or something?"

"Oh gosh, thank goodness we finally found you..."

"Claire! I thought you were a goner!"

Claire's ears perked up, that last one sounded familiar. She ceased her coughing and tries to open her eyes, and indeed, that UMA hat sticks out from all the other vague people crowding around her. It took her a moment to regain back her memories on what just happened, and all she could do at the moment is to stare dumbly at the others, dripping wet and all.

They're all standing at the exact place where she had fallen, right beside the mine and the hot springs. At the edge of the Harvest Goddess Lake. Claire wondered if it's even possible for the lake to bring her away from the source of the current, yet she was found at the exact same place she fell in. It boggles her mind how the water stream works here, taking her to Toy's homeland, then right back here in one direction of the current.

'_Or maybe, that visit to Toy's homeland...was just a dream?'_

A towel was immediately wrapped around her when she sat up, provided by a very anxious nurse of sort, exclaiming something worriedly. Claire raised a brow, she didn't even know or remember this girl. Nor the other people who are currently crying out and hollering if she's aright. The blonde's eyes dropped down.

Safe to say, it astounded Claire that she's still remembered, even when she's known well for her ignorance on others.

"I only found your hoe when you fell in there!" Gray was the first to yell out at the blonde, awakening the silence in her mind. She looked up the skies, noticing its darkening tinge. Has she been drowning and dreaming for hours?

"We thought the current carried you downstream, so the others were tracing the river and the sea for hours!" A spectacled young man exclaimed. Claire stared at him blankly. If she has been underwater for that long, then why is she not dead?

"I'm...sorry..."

Everyone quietens down as soon as Claire said that out loud. The farmer shuffled inside the towel that was wrapped around her slightly, tilting her head up to face every present soul around her. "I'm very sorry...for everything...to everyone. I haven't been such a...good neighbour, I guess."

'_Even though what happened was a dream...it opened my eyes. ...Still, why does it have to be a dream?'_

One by one, the townsfolk who crowded around her lifted a smile. Their eyebrows arched high; some out of surprise, some out of relief, one out of confusion. That one man, is Gray. He stepped forward, pointing a finger at Claire, and said something that surprises everyone.

"Claire. Where did you get the hair band...?"

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_(A/N: Ah finally finished. Honestly, I thought the deadline was the 31st of September, but thank goodness Chance checked for me and reminded me it's actually 30th... Silly me. XD Well, this is the first story that ever ended in my collection. Lol, I apologize for the very simply English, I'm not very good in analogies and epic story-telling. XD Good luck to everyone that enters! Sy, logging off.)_


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